Floaters

[Ian J]

I'm thinking about floating instead of holding on to my run.

The main is reason is I want 6 days off in a row so I can go out and do stuff with my off time. Currently I get enough off time, but there's not much to do all night long.

Any idea what kind of hours floaters are pulling a month on average?

Would going from a 5/2 to an 8/6 be a big pay cut - I figure while you're on for your 8 you probably don't routinely fly all 8 days, right? Does the per diem fill the gap?

Thanks!

[minitour]

I hope to read some good replies to this as I'm really hoping to be doing this as well. Something about being off 6 days straight really appeals to me.

-mini

[mikecweb]

First off sorry bout last night. Heather said she didn't think you got out of Bradley so I just hopped on 151.
Word on the street is floaters are flying alot right now. You'll definetly be asked to extend and of course you can to get extra flight time and money. Also, depending on where you bid the 8/6 has alot to do with how much you'll fly. If you do that out of Bradley, you'll just fly 163 but on an 8/6 schedule until someone else bids it. Other things to consider: Depending on base you'll have to take another checkride in the 'jo and/or van. Which resets your training contract. One good thing about being a floater right now is you don't have to worry about your run getting cut. Floaters will be here forever.
Expect to be on duty all 8 days. Per diem will not fill the gap in most cases. Alot more airline terminals, alot more hotels, and alot more plates in your flight bag.
Flysher was a floater so he can add in some details about it that I wouldn't know. I do know that those guys never have to be on time apparently. Deadlines don't exist to a floater.

[mnixon]

When I floated, I liked it, but like Mike said, don't count on Per Diem filling the gap. It was fun and pretty challenging, at least vs. doing the same run every night. Bonus, I got a free weekend in a hotel about a month ago from all my time with AirNet.

[Zephyr]

Hey Ian,

I've been floating since August and am liking it. I love the days off and still being able to predict my schedule. I've been flying about 50 hours a month. Out of an 8 day rotation, it's usually get in position on your first day, then usually the weekend on standby. So you'll fly maybe 5 days out of your 8. We're chartering out so many runs, I try to help out by extending maybe every other rotation, so extending = mo' money.

If you float out of BDL and cover a BDL run, no per-diem, so factor that in.

Lotsa different airports
Lotsa airlining
Lotsa hotels
Not many rental cars

It's still pretty fun, I really like doing something different at least every week (usually on the same run all week).

~Z

Originally Posted by Ian J

I'm thinking about floating instead of holding on to my run.

The main is reason is I want 6 days off in a row so I can go out and do stuff with my off time. Currently I get enough off time, but there's not much to do all night long.

Any idea what kind of hours floaters are pulling a month on average?

Would going from a 5/2 to an 8/6 be a big pay cut - I figure while you're on for your 8 you probably don't routinely fly all 8 days, right? Does the per diem fill the gap?

Thanks!

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by mikecweb

First off sorry bout last night. Heather said she didn't think you got out of Bradley so I just hopped on 151.
Word on the street is floaters are flying alot right now. You'll definetly be asked to extend and of course you can to get extra flight time and money. Also, depending on where you bid the 8/6 has alot to do with how much you'll fly. If you do that out of Bradley, you'll just fly 163 but on an 8/6 schedule until someone else bids it. Other things to consider: Depending on base you'll have to take another checkride in the 'jo and/or van. Which resets your training contract. One good thing about being a floater right now is you don't have to worry about your run getting cut. Floaters will be here forever.
Expect to be on duty all 8 days. Per diem will not fill the gap in most cases. Alot more airline terminals, alot more hotels, and alot more plates in your flight bag.
Flysher was a floater so he can add in some details about it that I wouldn't know. I do know that those guys never have to be on time apparently. Deadlines don't exist to a floater.

It's all good - I eventually found the 151 pilot after I called you who said you weren't around.

I made it out of BDL just fine - just late thanks to 246 being late - and got into teb even later thanks to my stellar 110 knot ground speed.

Forgot about that pesky training contract... hm.

Originally Posted by Zephyr

Hey Ian,

I've been floating since August and am liking it. I love the days off and still being able to predict my schedule. I've been flying about 50 hours a month. Out of an 8 day rotation, it's usually get in position on your first day, then usually the weekend on standby. So you'll fly maybe 5 days out of your 8. We're chartering out so many runs, I try to help out by extending maybe every other rotation, so extending = mo' money.

If you float out of BDL and cover a BDL run, no per-diem, so factor that in.

Lotsa different airports
Lotsa airlining
Lotsa hotels
Not many rental cars

It's still pretty fun, I really like doing something different at least every week (usually on the same run all week).

~Z

I like the idea of a change - and honestly a pay reduction wouldn't be THAT big of a deal. But only 50 hours a month... that's a little lower than I want I think.

[murphfly]

I trained in the Caravan 5 mths after starting and I didn't sign another contract. I believe if you drop a plane then you have to sign another. Or at least that's what my training partner had to do since he dropped the 'Jo.

[Zephyr]

Originally Posted by Ian J

I like the idea of a change - and honestly a pay reduction wouldn't be THAT big of a deal. But only 50 hours a month... that's a little lower than I want I think.

Well I did a couple rotations out west which probably threw my averages lower than most, those runs are only about 13 hours a week.

[mikecweb]

Originally Posted by murphfly

I trained in the Caravan 5 mths after starting and I didn't sign another contract. I believe if you drop a plane then you have to sign another. Or at least that's what my training partner had to do since he dropped the 'Jo.

Yeah idk what they are doing nowadays. You know how the whole contract thing worked for me so who knows.

[ackeight]

pssh not like they hold you to the contract anyways.

[Flysher]

Originally Posted by ackeight

pssh not like they hold you to the contract anyways.

Actually, they do.

Ian I can try to answer your question. When I was a floater the most I ever flew in a month was about 60 hours, the least being 4. Expect a fair amount of travel, including system flights, airline flights, and sometimes just driving a rental car(DTW, LUK, AGC, and IND stick out in my mind for that since they are close.)

The only pay you can count on is base pay, but you can sneak a bit extra out of it if you are crafty. What I did was live off of under 10$ a day, that way my per diem was "extra pay" at the end. Sometimes you will go away for all 8 days, and sometimes you will sit standby in LCK and be home standby on weekends. I hear that right now they are asking for as much OT as possible, so you'd have the opportunity to fly extra and earn 9th and 10th day pay. Also if you travel outside of your rotation you get travel pay.

The best part of floating for me was always flying a different airplane (sometimes all 3 in one night) and always seeing a different city. I think when I bid 103 I had pretty much flown every prop run in the system short of STP.

The worst part as I sorta said before is stuff besides flying. Like getting to your airport and trying to find out how to get to your hotel if you have a rental, waiting on shuttles and taxi cabs, eating hotel breakfast over and over, maids that cant read, etc.

Other than that its a great time, definetly the most fun I have had at Airnet by far. My advice would be to get your TT as close to jet mins as possible before bidding, that way you don't have to ##### yourself out to get jet mins in a reasonable time.

[OldTownPilot]

Are there floaters in the Lear?

[flyguydaniel]

Originally Posted by OldTownPilot

Are there floaters in the Lear?

Yes, both PIC and SIC.

[Ian J]

Thanks for the good info, guys.

There is a BDL floater position open, but I decided against it. I'll just stick with 163 for now.

[mnixon]

Originally Posted by Flysher

maids that cant read, etc.

Answer the door in the outfit that the Big Baby Jesus gave you, they won't come back. Or maybe they will, your mileage may vary.

[Flysher]

Originally Posted by Ian J

Thanks for the good info, guys.

There is a BDL floater position open, but I decided against it. I'll just stick with 163 for now.

Oh you wanted BDL floater... my info is probably wrong on this, but I heard those guys were 5/2 schedule. If thats the case, I'd avoid that like the plague if you like being home. Imagine covering a 5 day run and repositioning home/to your next assignment... you only have 2 days available for that then. 8/6 is what you would want, but again your goals may be to work as much as possible.

[Flysher]

Originally Posted by mnixon

Answer the door in the outfit that the Big Baby Jesus gave you, they won't come back. Or maybe they will, your mileage may vary.

Hahah.

Oh the horror.

[mikecweb]

Originally Posted by mnixon

Answer the door in the outfit that the Big Baby Jesus gave you, they won't come back. Or maybe they will, your mileage may vary.

Thanks for that mental image.
I feel for your wife.

[ljg]

In some countries that means you are legally married.

[mninstructor]

BDL is 8/6, or at least the other floater currently there is on 8/6. And since Ian is already Navajo/Baron there shouldn't be a contract change for taking the floater spot.

[mnixon]

Originally Posted by mikecweb

Thanks for that mental image.
I feel for your wife.

So do I!

[minitour]

That you guys know of...Any 8/6 floater spots open out of LCK that may only require you to be Baron qualified?

I talked to a guy last night in ops during the meet that said there's a couple of floaters that are only Baron qual'd...I'm just going to try to avoid the van. My tolerance for single engine night is pretty low right now, let alone SE IFR....it gives me nightmares.

-mini

[mikecweb]

Originally Posted by minitour

That you guys know of...Any 8/6 floater spots open out of LCK that may only require you to be Baron qualified?

I talked to a guy last night in ops during the meet that said there's a couple of floaters that are only Baron qual'd...I'm just going to try to avoid the van. My tolerance for single engine night is pretty low right now, let alone SE IFR....it gives me nightmares.

-mini

Not that I know of. But I don't think you'll get very far with this company with that kind of reservation.

[minitour]

Originally Posted by mikecweb

Not that I know of. But I don't think you'll get very far with this company with that kind of reservation.

All it takes is a few engine failures in singles, a complete vacuum pump failure, alternator over voltage and an alternator failure, AI failure...believe me, I've got my reasons to be suspicious of singles.

Add to it a plane that has a history of being a falling snow-cone in ice...I think my concerns are well warranted.

-mini

[mikecweb]

I won't argue with what someone believes but I will tell you that you won't get far with this company when you place a good amount of our prop pilots in a category that you consider unsafe. I'd keep it to yourself.